Is there a newbies' guide to streaming to the T2?

[Gunjin]

Having got fed up with the low frame rates/stuttering with HD or high bit rate SD video via a (fast) USB mem stick, I have been trying out a bunch of upnp media player/server solutions like xmbc to try to stream this HD / high bit rate SD video content from my PC to my HDR T2 (latest Humax firmware) but am getting nowhere fast. Streaming enabled on the Hummy, upnp enabled on the router but can see, but cannot connect to anything on, my Win 7 PC.
Is there a newbies' guide to streaming TO the T2 from Win 7 PCs somewhere?
Thks

 

[Black Hole]

You need a DLNA server running on the PC to provide the UPnP content, then the Humax will find it automatically. XBMC will do it if you set it up correctly.

However, there is a limited range of file types the Humax will accept (fewer than playing from the internal drive).

 

[Gunjin]

OK, but is there a newbies' guide to streaming TO the T2 from Win 7 PCs somewhere?

 

[Black Hole]

Not that I know of. It's straight-forward to explain the HDR-FOX end, all you have to do is press Media >> Storage (blue) >> Network and then hope the HDR-FOX locates your server.

The problem is the server end. There are so many variations in people's kit and configuration. You mentioned XBMC - have you tried setting it up as a server? Your continued stress on the word to suggests you think it is only a player.

 

[Gunjin]

I thought I had set it to server mode when I went through the initial set-up process. It appears i had not. Have set it to server and I can now see the files. Thanks for the tip!

The problem now is that streaming does not solve my juddery video problem. It plays fine on my PC but i have yet to find a way to get them to play without terrible framerates on the T2...

 

[Black Hole]

If it plays juddery from USB, streaming it isn't going to help. I believe Twonky can transcode on the fly, but I guess that's not what you want. If you do try Twonky, note that v7 is known to crash the Humax. Wild Media Server is another possibility (note I have not tried either of these).

 

[Gunjin]

OK, will investigate them but as you say I cannot see them fixing this particular problem. Bring on a higher powered HDR T3!

 

[Ezra Pound]

It would be good to see a new non YouView Humax Freeview box, but if and when it arrives, it wont be called a T3. T2 refers to the digital TV standard, in a nutshell 'T' is Standard definition TV and 'T2' is High Definition TV, the HDR does both obviously. Maybe they will use T3 for the transmission of the 4K TV standard (4096 × 2160 pixels), don't hold your breath while waiting for it though

 

[Black Hole]

OK, will investigate them but as you say I cannot see them fixing this particular problem. Bring on a higher powered HDR T3!

There is no software decoding of the video stream in the HDR, it is performed in hardware codecs. The likelihood is that your video is encoded in a way which conforms to a more recent standard than the version of the relevant codec that is embedded, hence the jittery playback is not so much data rate related as the data itself. I get a similar problem trying to play HDR recorded material on the codecs in my TV or Digital Stream.

My thought is that Twonky might straighten it out for you.

 

[lstar337]

You would be better off with a dedicated media player.

I use a WDTV Live. You can get them for about £89.99, and mine has taken every file I have thrown at it so far!